The United Kingdom has a magnificent history and has produced great leaders.

I get inspired, for instance, when I watch these Margaret Thatcher speeches about “public money” and “the poor poorer.” Sort of the same feeling I get when I watch the Gipper talking about Washington being a “company town” and the “unnecessary and excessive growth of government.”

But just as the United States has devolved by moving over time from Reagan to Obama, the United Kingdom has degenerated by going from Thatcher to David Cameron.

Cameron is supposedly a conservative, but it’s more accurate to say he’s an English version of George W. Bush. Some of the lowlights of his tenure include:

Cameron has undermined the U.K.’s system of personal retirement accounts.
Cameron is giving taxpayer money to statist environmental groups.
Cameron has increased the capital gains tax.
Cameron is increasing the burden of government spending.
Cameron has whined that it is wrong for people to minimize their tax burdens. Sign-Up

Here is a report on the intellectually bankrupt ramblings of another enemy of freedom, as reported by the Telegraph.

David Gauke, a Treasury minister, told The Daily Telegraph that home owners who allow workmen to evade VAT or income tax were forcing others to pay more. …critics accused the Government of being “unnecessarily moralistic” about ordinary people trying to keep their household bills down. …According to a report by the Public Accounts Committee, more than two million people make cash-in-hand payments costing the Treasury an estimated £2? billion. There is no law against paying someone in cash… In a speech to the Policy Exchange think tank, he said that while using Isas and claiming gift aid on charitable donations was acceptable, buying homes through companies to avoid stamp duty and using service companies to reduce income tax was “morally repugnant”. Mr Gauke said: “These schemes damage our ability to fund public services and provide support to those who need it. They harm businesses by distorting competition. They damage public confidence. And they undermine the actions of the vast majority of taxpayers, who pay more in tax as a consequence of others enjoying a free ride.” The good news is that the English people aren’t as bad as their politicians. As part of the story, the Telegraph is conducting an online poll, which you can see to your left.

Notwithstanding the statolatry of UK politicians, the voting so far is overwhelmingly on the side of taxpayers rather than the government.

But public opinion doesn’t really matter if government policy continues to drift in the wrong direction.

And, as you can see from this data, the long-term outlook for the United Kingdom is very grim. And we know Cameron isn’t doing anything to address this looming crisis.

Not that this makes the UK special. Thanks to reckless entitlement programs, the same data shows that the United States also is headed for Greek-style fiscal chaos.

Top Opinion

Labour and Conservative are both just names now, they don't represent the actual historic values of either party. Both are very much in the centre of British politics and more recently some argue that Labour has actually been to the right of the Conservatives, especially under the Blair/Brown era.

So to say Cameron is a conservative is like saying Milliband is on the side of the workers - neither is true anymore. Both labour and Conservative are just two sides of the same coin. In fact scrap that, they're the same side of the same coin.

Labour and Conservative are both just names now, they don't represent the actual historic values of either party. Both are very much in the centre of British politics and more recently some argue that Labour has actually been to the right of the Conservatives, especially under the Blair/Brown era.

So to say Cameron is a conservative is like saying Milliband is on the side of the workers - neither is true anymore. Both labour and Conservative are just two sides of the same coin. In fact scrap that, they're the same side of the same coin.

Conservatives are traditionally right wing (but less right wing than Republicans) that have entrenched themselves firmly in the centre after three terms of being in opposition.

Labour are traditionally left wing 'on the side of the people' but in recent times are centrist (and sometimes actually to the right) and is increasingly becoming just as 'elitist' as the Conservatives in terms of the backgrounds on their top ministers.

Liberal Democrats are the centre of the road party (despite their name meaning something else in American politics, in British politics they are the centre party) who had been gaining ground, especially alongst younger voters who saw them as a more charismatic alternaitve to the main two parties above. This gain has been wiped out following their time in power as a member of the Coalition alongside the Conservatives as they've had to renege on several campaign promises.

UKIP is the United Kingdom Independence Party and seeks greater separation from what they see as the overly bureaucratic and unfair EU leading to the UK independence from the EU itself. Been slowly gaining ground, partly as a protest vote for those people annoyed with mainstream politics.

Then you have...

Depends on their level of understanding of British politics.

In a nutshell:

Conservatives are traditionally right wing (but less right wing than Republicans) that have entrenched themselves firmly in the centre after three terms of being in opposition.

Labour are traditionally left wing 'on the side of the people' but in recent times are centrist (and sometimes actually to the right) and is increasingly becoming just as 'elitist' as the Conservatives in terms of the backgrounds on their top ministers.

Liberal Democrats are the centre of the road party (despite their name meaning something else in American politics, in British politics they are the centre party) who had been gaining ground, especially alongst younger voters who saw them as a more charismatic alternaitve to the main two parties above. This gain has been wiped out following their time in power as a member of the Coalition alongside the Conservatives as they've had to renege on several campaign promises.

UKIP is the United Kingdom Independence Party and seeks greater separation from what they see as the overly bureaucratic and unfair EU leading to the UK independence from the EU itself. Been slowly gaining ground, partly as a protest vote for those people annoyed with mainstream politics.

Then you have regional parties such as the Scottish National Party that are regionally in power in Scotlands devolved parliament and ultimately seek Scottish independence.

Plaid Cymru which is the Welsh equivalent. Had been doing moderately well but has recently seen its support be seduced over to Labour..

And then there are the little people - the Communist party, the National Front, the Green Party and everyone's favourite- the Monster Raving Loony Party.

Thank you. And I've had some people tell me American political parties are confusing! Which one supports the Muslim invasion of Britain ? That's the one I would want to get rid of! From what I understand, you can't speak out about anything over there, especially Muslims!

Labout under Blair and Brown was notable for his high immigration from Eastern Europe especially, but also of other ethnic groups including Muslims.

I'm not sure any party is 'for' a muslim takeover of Britain, but a number of judges and politicians are overly scared of criticising or judging against muslims for fear of being branded racist or prejudiced. One case I remember reading about earlier in the year was three drunk women beating up a woman calling her a 'white bitch' who got off because they claimed they had never had alcohol before as their religion bans it and therefore they weren't responsible for their actions under it.

Luckily these cases are pretty rare and most muslims integrate well in the British society, obey the laws and are regarded under those laws the same as anyone else. But there are some depressing exceptions.

And we can speak bad about pretty much anything over here - our British sense of humour demands we make fun out of anything and everything. But there is a double standard especially for those in authority (who can be pounced upon for the tiniest thing) and we do try to draw a firm line between lighthearted p*sstaking and outright racism.